Rakyat paying for food crisis caused by govt policy failures, says ex-MP

Summary 

• Charles Santiago calls Malaysia’s RM78.8b food import bill a “manufactured crisis”, questioning why the rakyat must bear the cost of policy failures.

• He points to the repurposing of farmland for data centres and solar farms, alongside forced evictions of farmers, as signs of misplaced priorities.

• Charles warns that taxing imported fruits amid weak local supply could trigger a public health crisis, especially with the Health Ministry’s dietary recommendations unmet.

Former Klang MP Charles Santiago has questioned why ordinary citizens should be forced to shoulder Malaysia’s food import bill when such shortfalls stem from the failure of government policies.

Saying that importing fruits is a “manufactured crisis” in Malaysia, Charles asserted that the nation is “food insecure” as 60 percent of its food was imported to meet domestic demand in 2024, racking up a RM78.8 billion bill.

He claimed the issue is further compounded by how local farmlands are being “repurposed” to support specialised facilities and technological advancements, while farmers also face eviction issues.

“⁠Pineapple farms are being repurposed into energy & water-guzzling data centres in Johor. Just one 100 MW data centre drinks 4.2 million litres of potable water daily - enough for 20,000 people,” Charles said in a series of posts on X today.

“Farmers in Kanthan, Perak, are being evicted from their land that fed 60 tonnes of greens a day until the bulldozers came… In Bidor, fertile land once used for vegetables is cleared for solar panels.

“Farmers are punished and now the rakyat is taxed for a shortage they didn’t cause,” he lamented.

He added that while the government is right to support the transition to renewable energy developments, such efforts should be equitable and not at the cost of farmers’ livelihoods and the nation’s food security.

“(The Health Ministry’s) report suggests that Malaysians should eat two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables daily. Taxing nutrition this way will lead to a health crisis.

“The price of food does not rise on its own. When farmers are sidelined and food security policies are weak, we are forced to import more,” Charles added.

Previously, consumer groups Malaysiakini spoke to highlighted concerns that the local fruit supply is insufficient, and that imported fruits played an important role in creating a nutritionally balanced diet for Malaysians.

The government previously announced that all imported fruits have been categorised as non-essential items and will be slapped with a five percent sales tax.

The new rate is set to come into effect on July 1.

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Local fruits not subject to sales tax, nor impacted by gazette order